


The Valentine's that was Promised

by etherealight



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Denial, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Jealous Arya, Modern AU, Romance, just gendry and arya wandering around an amusement park, roller coaster fun, valentines fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-04-17 03:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14179770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealight/pseuds/etherealight
Summary: Valentine's was supposed to be a fun day for Arya Stark. If only her friends weren't mischievous little shits that is.





	1. Stuck with You

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! so it's my first time to ever write a multi-chapter fic. If you have any suggestions that would be grand. And also, I made Arya and Gendry older than they were in the books for the purposes of the story.
> 
> Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything except for this plot

Walking around the King’s road, Arya can’t help but feel excited for the day ahead. It’s not everyday that she gets to spend one of the most cliché traditions on the planet with her friends in an amusement park. They get to spend valentines at Westeros Land and what’s even more exciting is the fact that it’s her first time to ever visit the place. Being someone raised in the North and not on this stinking and humid place, Arya Stark only finds consolation in this city with her friends.

Turning the corner, she stops in front of a sign which says “ _The MOTTorcycles_ ”.

 _Now that’s a pun_. Arya smiles to herself as she remembers Tobho Mott and the sweltering atmosphere inside the repair shop.

Having no actual business there, she steps off at the corner besides it and leans on the wall. They were all supposed to meet up beside Tobho’s shop.

Glancing sideways, she looks at her watch and taps her foot.

_Well, where’s Hot Pie and Jeyne?_

Considering that she was already 10 minutes late from the 8 am meet up they all agreed on.

 _Actually, where the fuck is everyone?_ Looking up, she spots a tall boy wearing faded jeans and a blue shirt walking towards her, a confused expression on his face.

“Where the hell is everyone?” Gendry asks, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Well, shouldn’t I be asking you that since you actually work here and you’re supposed to have met up with them 10 minutes ago?” Arya replies with her arms crossed.

“Why the sudden pout, m’lady?” Gendry put his hands inside his pockets. “Now that I think about it, I bet they were just stuck on traffic or whatever.” He says with a nonchalant shrug.

“And as you can see, I just got out of the shop because Tobho was hounding me with work.” Gendry continues with a flourish of his arms while bending his knee slightly, as if talking to royalty.

Arya lightly punches his arm and says, “Do not call me m’lady! That joke’s a hundred years old already. Get over it, stupid.” But all Gendry could do was laugh to himself.

 _What a bastard_ , Arya thought. She now thinks that he’s incapable of ever forgetting who her parents are. Gendry just can’t get over the fact that Arya’s father is Ned Stark, the owner of that multi-million company that was passed down from generation to generation.The Stark corporation has always been the center of attention since they hold almost all the businesses at the North.  Not even adding the fact that her mother is none other than the socialite Catelyn Tully whose parents own the Riverlands industries.

Arya likes to think of herself as someone not sappy but there are times when she can’t help but consider her and Gendry’s meeting as fate.

It was pure chance, really.

Arya just wandered off from the party that his dad’s bestfriend, Robert Baratheon, was throwing. That alcoholic businessman who holds a lot of land and businesses here at Westeros. There were so many people that their bodyguards weren’t able to keep track of her when she started wandering off away from the Red Keep. She remembered that her clothes didn’t look like the expensive thing it was when the party started compared to when she started chasing cats along dirty alleys and corners. Arya had her eyes set on a fat tabby that left her grasp the moment that she tried to catch it. It ran through a patch of grass as she tried her best to follow quietly but as she made her way, she saw that it wobbled its way under a beat up cadillac that was parked besides a dilapidated building. She kneeled down and looked under the car only to feel someone’s boot besides her face. Arya squinted at a guy with curly hair against the glare of the sun. Realizing that he was just a kid like her, Arya was about to ask him what’s the matter when he suddenly kicked dust to her face and shouted at her saying that no kid should go off wandering around the building. She remembered thinking what a jerk that kid was for telling her off when he was even doing the same thing. Well, that jerk turned out to be her current friend Hot Pie. _Funny how things change, Arya thought._ Just when she thought she had no choice but to kick him at the shins, a tall guy with black hair and blue eyes came into view. He was wearing a white top that was smudged with black on some places. Arya thought that he was an adult whose job was to really keep kids off the property but as he came closer, she realized that he was just a bit older than her, perhaps someone with the same age as Robb. The guy started threatening Hot Pie about what he do to bullies like him and Hot Pie’s knees were actually shaking as he confessed he was just looking for someone to play with, having no friends and all.

Arya can still remember Gendry saying, “Well, you fucking suck at making friends then.”

And ever since that afternoon, Hot Pie started following them around even after Arya told Gendry where she was staying, earning her a slack-jawed and confused reaction from him. Who could’ve blamed him really, he just did what any normal person would’ve done. Protecting a kid much younger than him from being bullied on the streets. With just the tiny detail that he protected a Stark without actually knowing it until she told him.

Shaking out of her daze, she realized that both their phones are ringing. Fishing hers out of her pocket, Arya scans the text and feels her eyes widen.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck”

Arya inches her phone closer to her face as if willing it to change the message.

“Shit! They have to be kidding us.” proclaims Gendry, as he too, squints at his phone.

“Oh my gods. Gendry, don’t tell me you got the same message too.”

“You’re in for disappointment then”

Arya tiptoes and looks at Gendry’s phone. And there it is. That same fucking message.

 

_Hey guys! Sorry we all can’t go today, our car’s tire got flat and we won’t be able to make it. Hope you guys enjoy Westeros Land for us. xx  – Hot Pie_

 

 _Hot Pie, Jeyne and Lommy are so fucking dead,_ is all Arya could think of as Gendry looks at her as if he’s about to go on a murder spree too.

Arya feels as if she’s a balloon that was shrinking. Valentine’s day was supposed to be fun with all her best friends celebrating it together.

“Are they seriously just gonna ditch on us?” she asks with a small voice, thinking about how excited she was just 15 minutes ago.

“I don’t fucking know to be honest” Gendry grabs Arya’s arm and started leading her past Tobho’s shop, “But if their car broke down, we can’t really do much about it, can we?” he sighs, as they continued walking down the street.

Arya agrees solemnly with her head down.

“They can’t just leave Jeyne’s car on the side of the road. They all have to wait for help and that usually takes long due to traffic.” He continues, looking at her sideways and Arya can’t help but notice,not for the first time, how blue Gendry’s eyes truly are.

“Hey now, I know you probably think this sucks ass so bad but you just have to put up with me for a day” Gendry says, nudging her shoulder.

“I know…” Arya sighs, “I was just really looking forward to this day with you guys. I don’t even know how many days I have left before we go back to Winterfell.” she says with a small voice.

“Yeah, i understand.” he replies as they turn a corner.

Crossing the street, Gendry suddenly stops and exclaims, “You know what? To hell with Hot Pie and all of them! I know this wasn’t how this was supposed to go but…” There was a loud honk as the driver started yelling at them, _“Fucking kids these days! Suddenly stopping in the middle of the road!_ ” and more curse words than necessary.

Arya suddenly drags him across the street, “You want to kill yourself by getting hit by a car?” she says with an incredulous voice as she hears the driver still honking at them.

“...we’re both here and Westeros Land is just a few blocks away. We might as well just get on with it and enjoy. I know how much you love to try those scary rides” He continues as if nothing happened.

Gendry made his voice a little bit higher, trying to imitate Arya’s and says, “ _I’m Arya and those rides would just be a piece of cake because im tough and-“_ Before he could finish, Arya struck her elbow to his side and he let go of her arm, acting as if Arya injured her.

“Whatever, stupid. I guess you’d have to make do for today. The gods truly made sure I was punished” she says with annoyance and amusement at her voice, looking at him sideways.

Putting his hand above his heart and grimacing a little, he said, “Ouch. That was mean, m’lady.”

And Arya can’t help but roll her eyes, thinking that maybe, just maybe, this day won’t disappoint after all.


	2. Keeping it High

Staring up at the big Westeros Land signage overhead, Arya can’t help but feel the excitement return to her body. She remembers how happy it made her everytime she and her siblings get to play at Winter Wonderland back in the North.

She’s even glad to note through the park’s gates that even though there are a lot of people wandering around, the line in wait for the rides aren’t that long. It would be such a bummer if they'd have to wait for a long time every single time they want to try out a ride.

As her attention shifts to a group of people taking pictures in front of the gigantic statue of a knight holding up a sword besides the ticket booth, Gendry jogs up towards her with two tickets at his hand.

 _I might as well just enjoy the day with him._ Arya ponders as she hurriedly grabs both the tickets from him and takes Gendry’s hand to drag him towards the guards on the entrance.

As their belongings and tickets were being checked, she takes a quick glance at him and sees that his face is slightly red.

“Hey Gendry, you okay? You look as if you ran a mile and not 5 meters.” she laughs as she fixes the cap on her head with a logo of a direwolf that Jon had given for her 12th birthday.

“Nothing. It’s just hot in here, I guess.” Gendry replies with a shrug.

 _Weird._ He’s always at Tobho’s where it usually feels like an oven instead of a repair shop and he doesn’t look this disheveled.

 _Whatever_ , she thinks. _Maybe he’s just experiencing an advanced embarrassment because he’s actually scared to try all the rides,_ Arya smiles to herself.

They enter the park and saw couples walking around, kids carrying cotton candies, kiosks containing stuff toys and of course, different rides for people like them who just want to turn their guts upside down.

“Why are you smiling like a maniac?” he says, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Nothing. Just imagining you pee your pants with nervousness.”

“Ha, you wish.” Gendry replies with a smirk.

Scanning the crowd and attractions around her, Arya notices a roller coaster looming in the distance.

“That.” Arya points with a huge grin on her face.

“That would be our first stop.” she continues with a look at Gendry, challenge written all over her face.

Before he could even get a good look, she was already marching towards it and Gendry could do nothing but follow her.

After half-running and half-jogging to the looming ride up ahead, she and Gendry both look up at the twisting rails that Arya’s willing to take a bet, has already made a lot of people in the past regret they even tried it in the first place.

“The Vale”, they say in unison. Arya mischievously looks at Gendry only to find him already looking at her.

“Fine. If that’s what you want to do.” he sighs.

She half yells and squeals in excitement and is about to give Gendry a big hug as she realizes that the people around them with no idea who they are might think that they’re an actual couple.

Out for valentines.

In an amusement park.

Because that’s what couples do.

 

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

 

Looking consciously at Gendry, Arya slowly puts her arms back at her sides before he even realizes that she has her arms ready for a hug like an idiot. Thank goodness Gendry is too busy laughing at how childish Arya’s acting that he hardly even noticed.

“Damn Arya,” he says, still chuckling, “if only I knew that amusement parks were your weakness and this was the only thing that would make you this nice, I would have taken you here a long time ago.”

Arya blushes at the thought of her and Gendry going out and just hanging around in an amusement park even though that’s exactly what they’re currently doing.

Sure, she was a few years younger than Gendry but as they grew up, she slowly started realizing how his arms look whenever he’s working at the shop, how he looks strong despite being a shy kid growing up and how they once wrestled at the shop when nobody was there, the first time that she could never deny that her heart fluttered when she was with Gendry.

Mentally slapping herself for what’s going on around her head, she shifts her focus on what’s happening around her and insists, “I’m just happy, you know. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to enjoy a day like this.”

Gods know how stressful it is to be part of one of the most powerful families in Westeros and having other crazy families like the Lannisters circling your family’s every move like a vulture.

“I know. And im just glad that we’re here to enjoy ourselves today.” he tells her with sincerity as they neared the queue to the line waiting for the Vale.

When the last set of people was finished and all the piercing screams surrounding the air has stopped, Arya feels her heartbeat getting faster with every second.

Gendry nudges her shoulder and asks with a taunting smile, “Ready for the ride of your life?”

“Of course I am”, Arya replies indignantly, marching up to the empty seats in the front row of the roller coaster.

“You sure you want to seat there?” the staff asks her, noticing where she was headed.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

“Just have to tell you, ma’am. The front row is always the scariest part because you’ll clearly see open air beneath you even though the ride hasn’t started its upside down track yet.”

 _Easy-peasy. Heights don’t really scare me that much._ Arya thinks with a wild grin plastered on her face.

“Nah, I’m fine. Not sure about the guy beside me though.”

Arya can feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins and she's so ready that she starts locking the safety harness across her chest and fastens the seat belt on her hips.

The Vale was designed to make you scream and Arya sure as hell wouldn’t hold in her breath. What made it more challenging was that the track doesn’t just go forward but backwards as well.

It’s the fastest and scariest ride here in Westeros Land. Well, atleast according to 51 reviews that Arya scrolled through on google.

Once everything was set and the staff announces that the ride is about to start in less than a minute, Arya glances at Gendry and sees how hard he’s gripping his harness.

Arya laughs at the sight of this big guy who at first glance looks like a man who could brave anything. But looking at him now, Arya thinks that roller coasters might just be his first weakness.

“Not so tough now, huh?” Arya smirks and just chuckles when all Gendry could do is give her a death glare.

That’s when they suddenly feel the engine beneath them start, and in less than ten seconds everything became a blur of motion and all Arya could do was shout “FUCK” like it’s the only word she knows.

Everyone was screaming and Arya could hear Gendry yell, “Why the fuck did we even think this was a good idea?”, into her face. Despite the flurry of movement, Arya can’t help but laugh at that.

She suddenly feels like she was on another dimension when the tracks suddenly turns left and does a full 360 degrees turn that made her stomach clench. She raises her hands in the air as the movement spurs them onwards again in a low dip and she curses like a sailor out in the middle of a big storm.

As the ride continues to turn right and up. Down. And another 360 degrees, Arya lowers her arms and was about to hold her harness instead when Gendry suddenly grabs her hands and laces his fingers tightly with hers, holding onto her like it’s the only thing anchoring him. With everything that’s happening, Arya’s dumbfounded that she even notices Gendry holding her left hand as tightly as he could.

Holding hands, they scream in unison when the tracks suddenly stop only to start again in full intensity but backwards. Their hair was whipping every which way and Arya clutches Gendry’s hand as tightly as he was holding hers and it seemed like a full minute before the track comes back to another sharp left turn and an upwards motion, then everything stops.

Arya can tell that her face completely reveals how blown away she’s completely feeling, with her messy hair and rumpled up clothes. She yells in triumph and exclaims, “that was fucking insane!”. Which made them laugh like two hysterical people until suddenly realizing that both of them are still holding each other’s hand.

_Fuck._

Gendry turns redder than he already is and suddenly releases his grip on Arya’s hand, placing it on his head to fix his messy hair instead.

Arya is left in an awkward position of not knowing what to properly do with hers. Realizing that her seat belt is still in place, she immediately unfastens it and stands up. She can feel her heart beating crazy again and Arya blames it all on the roller coaster.

“I’m never doing that again.”, proclaims Gendry sullenly.

“Didn’t you love it?”, she teases him with a wink.

“Ugh. Why do people even like to torture themselves with rides that makes you want to regret everything you ever did on your life?”

Arya just laughs at his response. It’s very Gendry of him to always think of practicality and to have that kind of expression on his face like he’s having such a dilemma on his head.

“Maybe you’re just too old, Gendry. I wouldn’t blame you then if that’s what you think.”

“Hey, I’m not that old!” Gendry replies defensively as he and Arya steps outside under the glaring heat.

“I’m hungry” Arya says with a wistful look as she notices different kiosks with cotton candies, ice cream, fries and burgers along the street. A kid runs in front of her carrying potato chips dipped in so much cheese that she’s tempted to ask the kid where he got it. Luckily, his parents start calling his attention from across the street. Squinting her eyes in their direction, she realizes that what looks like a garden with its beautiful flowers from far away actually surrounds a diner.

“Typical Arya, getting hungry way before lunch time.” Gendry huffs out a sigh. “Okay, where do you want to go? I'd even buy you a dessert if you forget to tell Jon that Hot Pie ditched on us. He already experienced Jon's wrath too many times to count"

Arya returns her attention on Gendry and gives him a bewildered look, “Are you inviting me for a treat?” she asks with her mouth slightly hanging open.

“Why not? Our friends already ditched on us. Plus, I wouldn't want you to tell Jon that I starved you out here”

“You bet I would.” she smirks and starts making her way to the diner on the opposite side of the road. Closing the distance, Arya sees that it was once a rail car that manages to look beat up and beautiful at the same time, it could easily be a set for a 1950s movie.

“The Health Reach” Arya reads from the signage designed with real roses atop the wooden door.

“So,” Gendry asks with slight disbelief in his voice “are we trying to be healthy now?”

Arya laughs as they cross the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! so sorry that it took a while for me to post this chapter. comments would be greatly appreciated and just wanna say thank you to everyone who reads this
> 
> anyways, hope you all enjoy reading this!


	3. Uncertain

Pushing the door open, a black and white checkered floor greets Gendry and Arya. Red circular tables are scattered along the bar with cushioned seats and mahogany tables beside the window overlooking the view of the park outside. The place makes Arya nostalgic for some reason. How she wish that there could be diners like this around King’s Landing.

She carefully walks around couples and some lone individuals who are obviously enjoying their meals, spotting a clear table in the farthest corner of the diner, Arya makes her way to it and Gendry follows suit, sitting across her.

“Never really thought that they’d sell healthy food here”, Gendry says as he makes himself comfortable.

Glancing on the family in her peripheral view, Arya sees burgers and fries all the same.

“Maybe they just make not-so-healthy food a wee bit healthier.” she replies with a shrug.

A waitress wearing a white apron on top of her pale pink short sleeves and skirt makes her way to their table.

“Good Morning, I’m Bella. What would you two like?” she asks with a tap on her notepad. “Our customer favorite is The Peach. Fries and chips with sauce made in -guess what?” she cuts herself off, “of course, peaches.” she continues with a giggle as if she’s very proud of herself.

“That sounds new. Okay, we’ll order one.” Gendry says as the attention of the girl shifts on him.

Arya sees the exact moment she gives a double take and slightly stands up taller with a very coy smile.

“Our Burgers are famous too. It comes with a salad and onion rings. Wanna try them out?” she smiles down at him and Gendry smiles back probably noticing that this girl is very pretty with her long black hair that does those perfect model beachy waves without trying too hard. Her eyes are the color of the ocean which Arya notices perfectly complements Gendry’s own blue eyes. It’s now getting hard to not associate her with the word perfect.

Lost in her reverie she felt dumbfounded as Gendry laughs at something the girl said, making said girl, straighten her back more and lean into him a little bit. Arya just wants to rip her own hair off out of frustration. Not that she’s jealous, of course not. This has always been the case when she was out with Gendry. Girls would always fawn over him and sometimes, she truly feels like the invisible bestfriend. But somehow, Gendry would always look to her side and smile at her which suddenly slaps her back to reality.

Despite everything and everyone, he always seem to choose her no matter what. Her presence, attention and praise. Just like what he’s doing now as he turns his gaze at her, looking worried.

Arya gives him a small smile and turns to Bella, “Just give me those potato chips and a plate of whatever the fuck else is delicious” she says in an over enthusiastic voice with a wide grin.

Gendry suddenly looks at Arya with a slightly confused look on his face.

She shrugs with an innocent look in her eyes as if asking him, _“What’s the matter?”._

Bella gives one last look at Gendry before sauntering her way to the counter and behind the kitchen doors. As she comes back with their order, Arya eats like she’s in a castle having a feast with her fellow comrades after a victory in the battlefield. Gendry chuckles and she can’t help but think that she’d be glad to have every morning with him in a diner, eating breakfast as they talk and talk about what’s bothering them and why the world’s so unfair. Arya knows these kind of thoughts are the ones she’s supposed to run away from. She doesn’t even know whether Gendry just really thinks of her as his bestfriend or if there’s even a slight chance that he thinks they could be more.. Not that Arya thinks of him in _that way._ That would be ridiculous, he would never see her in that light.

 _Fuck. And all along I thought Gendry is the stupid one._ She’s starting to hate his smile and all the unbidden thoughts that crosses her mind as she looks at him.

After eating days worth of potato chips and burgers who has more vegetables than she would normally like, Arya starts drinking the strawberry milkshake that Gendry insisted he buy for her. For unknown reasons other than the fact that she thinks he wants to make up for their friends stunt.

Busy with her food, she didn’t realize that Bella made her way into their table again and asked if there’s anything else they needed.

“Oh thank you. But it’s all good already, I guess.” Gendry replies with a smile at her.

 _Oh gods, Gendry’s giving her that smile which means he’s clueless she just actually wants to talk to him._ Arya internally sighs and can’t help but ask herself why does Gendry have to be this good looking? She can’t even spend a day with him without some girl trying to get his attention.

 _The nerve_ , Arya thinks rolling her eyes.

“Is it your first time here in Westeros Land?” Bella asks, managing to curl her lips in a seductive way that Arya could never figure out how in the seven hells they do that without looking like they want to murder someone.

“Actually, yes.” he replies with a curt nod.

“Great! There’s a lot of places you can visit here that first-timers don’t usually know about. I could join you…” she suggests while placing her hands on Gendry’s shoulder trying to act casual but failing greatly.

Looking directly at the girl, Arya realizes for the second time that she’s really a work of art. She could be in a magazine cover and it would be the least off thing in the world.

Bella suddenly looked at Arya as if forgetting she was there in the first place.

“Join both of you I mean..” she hastily adds. “You’d find I’m a friendly tourist guide”, she continues with a wink at Gendry.

He looks so uncomfortable Arya would laugh if she doesn’t feel like her heart’s being twisted up inside, “Sorry but we don’t really need a tourist guide. Me and my girl here actually likes wandering around the place.” He replies with a nudge on Arya’s side, releasing Bella's grip on his shoulder.

_Did he just call her his girl?_

Arya can feel her ears heating up and her heart beating like crazy with what he said, trying to pretend she isn’t as bothered as she’s feeling, she tries to downplay it and just go along with him, “Yeah, sorry Bella. We won’t be needing you anytime soon.” Arya says smiling as she twirls the straw on her milkshake.

 _What if Gendry didn’t really mean it? And he just said that to make her go away._ Arya feels herself deflate a bit. She officially hates her thoughts now.

Bella just smiled way too friendly at her and turns back on Gendry and says, “Too bad then, but never hesitate to hit me up if you ever need anything”. She got a piece of tissue from their table and quickly writes something.

“I’d be really happy to help” once again smiling at Gendry with a suggesting look on her face.

 _No shit_ , Arya rolls her eyes.

She slides the tissue in front of him and turns her back to walk away with a sway on her hips on each step. As Bella returns on the counter, Arya looks at what she wrote and isn’t shocked that it has a number on it with a kiss mark at the end.

“Seriously Gendry?” Arya asks trying to mask the irritation in her voice with a laugh.

“She’s not even my type” Gendry says looking at her intently.

Arya feels her cheeks redden as she stands up to leave. On their way to the door, she sees Gendry at the corner of her eyes crumple up the tissue Bella gave him and throw it at a trash can they passed by. Arya wouldn’t lie and say that she isn’t smiling ear to ear on their way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated this chapter a lot faster than I did the previous one because all your comments are making me happy and motivated me to rewrite faster than I would've. So for everyone commenting, thank you so so much! You have no idea how your words lift me up.
> 
> Btw, the diner is really something that I based on House Tyrell and their livelihood in asoiaf which is supplying the kingdom with crops and therefore, food. 
> 
> Hoped you like my version of Bella from the Peach! lol Jealous Arya is really my shit
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own A Song of Ice and Fire


	4. Haunted Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters or A Song of Ice and Fire

After dining at the Health Reach, Arya and Gendry settles into an easy walk around Westeros Land. With Gendry at her side and a comfortable silence between them, Arya can’t help but think that moments like these are the ones she’d always love to go back to no matter what. She pauses from their walk and rummages around in her backpack. Arya reaches for her polaroid camera and gives Gendry a big warm smile. “Let’s take a picture with those pretty flowers Gendry, please?” dragging out her last word and making what Gendry calls “her specialized puppy dog eyes”. He just calls it that because Gendry could never say no to Arya whenever she aims it at his direction. “You know I’d say yes before you even asked, right?” Arya only smiles unabashedly at him and looks around the place for the view with the most flowers in it. It’s a well-known fact among her family and peers that she loves flowers despite giving the impression that she spends most of her time learning how to kill a man in 50 different ways. Well, she also likes learning about those things but she also loves how flowers bloom in different colors and its ability to make her feel that everything’s gonna be okay eventually. It’s not her fault anymore that some can’t seem to grasp the idea that people can show two different sides of the same coin at the very same time.

“I better have a copy of this or I swear I’ll climb up to your window and steal all those polaroids I know you secretly took of me”

“Just great, letting your enemy know your plans. Great strategy you got there.” Arya shots back.

_Fucking Gendry and his teasing. Why does he have to torture me this way?_

_“_ And get your head off your ass because I don’t have a secret stash of your pictures under my pillow, okay?!” Arya’s sure she already pasted them on her wall alongside pictures of Weasel struggling against a big hug from Hot Pie and a lot of photographs she took from other shenanigans their group has done. _Gendry’s her friend and he has a spot on her wall filled with pictures that she took and love,_ she would always reason. _But why is it Gendry’s the only one who has a photo just of himself?_ That, she chooses to ignore.

“Yeah, I know. ‘Cause you have pictures of Ned Dayne instead.” Gendry chuckles but weirdly, she can tell that he’s not really feeling it.

“As if, dumbass. Now just come over here and take a picture with me.” Arya sits on one of the empty benches and Gendry scoots closer to her side. She raises her camera and says, “Smile after I finish counting to three.” Arya can feel the heat off of Gendry’s body and she’s trying hard not to let it get to her head.  “And don’t mess this up, I only brought few films with me” she continues. “Okay, ready?” glancing at him and realizing that their noses are only a few inches apart, she sucks in a breath and hope to gods that he doesn’t notice. Thank goodness he gives her a nod and looks at the camera, putting a much needed distance between them. Trying to steady her heartbeat she counts, “One, Two..” and before she can finish, Gendry suddenly wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her closer against him as he flashes a big grin. Arya is so caught off guard that she isn’t able to finish counting up to three and mistakenly clicks the button instead. Before she knows it, Gendry has already taken his arms off of her and is now excitedly waiting for the photo to appear as the film slowly goes out of the polaroid.

“I think this is really gonna be good. I take back what I said earlier, don’t even bother making me a copy of this because I’m getting it.”

Slightly recovering from a mini-heart attack caused by being too close to him, Arya comes to her senses and immediately snatches the photo once it was done, ignoring Gendry’s protests about unfair treatment and something else that Arya can’t understand with her panic. She paces back and forth while fanning the film until colors started popping out and the photo materializes. He has stopped talking and is hovering behind her as they both look down at the image that formed.

There, surrounded by lilies of different shades, Gendry is grinning so wide looking as if he’s about to laugh and Arya has this kind of astounded look in her eyes with her mouth slightly open from shock  as she was looking sideways at him.

It _is_ a pretty photo. And it gives Arya chills just how much she loves the way Gendry has his arm on her shoulder, pulling her closer. It doesn’t even matter that she wasn’t looking at the camera. For her, this photo truly captures their friendship and how comfortable they are with each other.

“Wow..” Gendry says with slight amazement in his voice “It really did come out beautiful.”

Afraid that he’ll know how much she loves it, Arya just says “Yeah, not bad.”

“What do you mean ‘not bad’? This is great! My first polaroid of us ever and it’s fantastic.” Gendry exclaims as he grabs the photo out of her hands.

“Now I’m the one who's gonna have to break into your house and steal that.”

“You can try, princess” he winks at her.

“I definitely will, m’lord.” she teases while rolling her eyes. He can be such a dork sometimes.

Tucking the photo inside his wallet, Gendry looks at her and says, “And hey, since you got the chance to pick that crazy ride earlier, I think it’s just fair that I’ll be the one to choose our next destination.”

Crossing her arms, Arya says “Is that a challenge I hear on your voice, Gendry?”

He just shrugs his shoulders lightly while his eyes definitely tell a different thing.

Oh boy, Arya _loves_ challenges.

“Bring it on.”

 

-

 

Out of all the possible places that Arya thought Gendry might take her, a haunted castle is definitely not on the list. A sign that looks near to falling is hanging by a single nail and people would have to tilt their head sideways just to read the words written on it. Arya knows that all of these is just supposed to spook customers before they even enter, but eerily enough, The Hunted Dreadfort splashed across the sign looks like it was written in real blood and not paint.

Shrugging off the chills, Arya reminds herself that this would just be like the time Jon doused his whole face with powder and dressed all in white to try and scare her, Sansa, Bran, and then baby Rickon as they turned around a corner in their gigantic house at the North. Like most of the things that the Starks have - fame, wealth and influence, Winterfell has been passed down from generation to generation of Starks long gone and dead. And it wasn’t even an exaggeration on Jon’s part that he took the effort to actually dress like a ghost because their Old Nan who lived in their home longer than any of them ever did (including her parents) always said that ghosts and spirits were never too far away from Winterfell.

Gendry leads the way closer and looking at the Hunted Dreadfort, she takes note of its monstrosity and design that obviously got inspiration from medieval castles with its brick gray walls, tall archways and thick wooden doors that seem to look like it was swallowing guests instead of merely letting them in. Pushing the door open, she says in a low voice “Why does this place look like it housed different murders across the centuries?”

Gendry glances at her and replies, “Well, maybe it _did_ house different murders across the centuries.”

“Ha ha, very funny” she says sarcastically.

“And remind me why are we whispering again? Didn’t see a sign outside that we shouldn’t make too much noise.”

Knowing that Gendry is just annoying her, she chooses to ignore him. Letting her eyes adjust to the sudden darkness that greeted them after walking through the doors, Arya pauses for a while as she feels Gendry doing the same. Once her vision allows her to scan the vastness around, Arya feels her heart skip a beat as she finds a human body lying on the floor beside her feet that frankly looks like the skin was ripped off in a very unpleasant way.

“What the fu-” before she can even react, Gendry shushes her as piercing screams shattered the silence.

“Let’s go around the other way” he says pointing to the hall opposite of where the screams came from. “I wouldn’t argue you on that” Arya gulps as she feels shivers crawling on her back. With further observation, she sees that there were intestines dangling from the chandelier above their heads and across the room, axes, pliers and knives covered in rust are proudly decorated on the walls. She’s not normally an easy person to scare but after a brief look around and hearing the evident fear of the other guests, Arya would rather get the hell out of there as fast as they could.

Real live human beings, she has long ago learned how to conquer her fear of, but places creatively designed to the point of being so realistic that it makes you think of past tortures and slow painful death? Not yet.

Oddly, it seems like Gendry’s not as shaken as she thought he would be given his reaction throughout their whole ride in the Vale as he calmly leads the way out to the narrow corridor they came up to. The walls were slicked with something that Arya would never even dream of touching. She ought to give praise to the team behind all of this, from the statues lining the hall down to the scratches on the walls as if somebody dragged their nails across it, she knows a lot of effort was put into achieving something as grand as this. Busy in her observations, Arya suddenly feels the lost of Gendry’s presence next to her and quickly turns around to look behind.

“Gendry?” she calls out. Nobody answers.

Slowly making her way to a slightly ajar door not far from her, she slips inside and finds that it’s a room that could easily fit 10 king size beds and still have enough space for the several closets that are lined up on two sides of the wall.

“If you’re trying to scare me Gendry, let me tell you that it’s just not working” she insists on the silence. She would never let him know just how much this place is creeping her.

Opening random closets full of cobwebs and dust, she fights against a cough and closes them with a loud bang. “You’re so dead once I see you. And I assure you this won’t be like the time I promised I’d kill you after you finished the last two slices of pizza left in the fridge, you hear me?!”

A slight rustle in her left catches her attention, narrowing her eyes and inching slowly, she peeks behind a table full of scrolls and huge candelabras that hides the view behind it. Expecting Gendry to be there, she sighs with disappointment as she finds nothing but fallen books behind. Turning around, she’s about to walk back when somebody suddenly grabs her left foot and attempts to make her stay in place. Before crashing to the ground caused by the sudden halt in her steps, Arya breaks her fall through twisting her ankles enough to have her shoulders hit the floor instead of her face. In a split second she’s already rolling to her sides with her leg free of restraint from twisting her ankles fast enough as her Martial Arts teacher has taught her.

 _The key, my dear Arya, is not to think of your opponent as a body of muscles and bones that would not break._ Syrio would say as he grabs Arya’s outstretched hand in a tight dead grip. _Instead, think of it as a river that has entryways to the ocean. No matter how small we think it is, there would always be a passage that we could make our way around to._ Her master would continue as he twists Arya’s arm in his deadly grip, stopping at an angle where his fingers are clearly seen. Gently giving Arya a slight nod as she pulls her hand in the direction where Syrio’s thumb and index finger is connected, she easily breaks free from his grasp as if he wasn’t holding her tightly. Syrio Forel has always drilled into her head that no matter how hard a person’s grip is, there would always be a weak link located between the thumb and the index finger that could easily be broken through finding the right angle and having the exact amount of pressure that would help you escape.

With her instincts flooding back at her, she immediately ducks and crashes her shoulders against her opponent’s abdomen, making the person lose balance. As she takes hold of his shirt, Arya lets gravity do the rest as her opponent crashes backwards with a loud grunt. If she isn’t busy positioning herself on top to make sure that there would be no room to budge, she would’ve recognized who she’s currently strangling. She brings the person’s face closer to her, _his_ face to be exact because judging from his body, he is obviously male. As the guy’s face is only inches from hers, Arya could’ve swore that if it isn’t for the dark she would say that this is… “Gendry!” she shrieks half angry and shocked that it’s his stupid cologne she’s smelling. Gendry laughs so loud that Arya’s sure the people who’s actually supposed to scare them knows their location now.

“You should’ve seen your face oh gods..” he trails as he tries to breathe through his laughter and Arya’s tight grip on his collar.

“You jerk! I thought you got lost or something!” she says, slightly shaking him.

As she lets go of his shirt, Gendry props himself up with his elbows and gives Arya a cocky grin, “I’m never going to forget this until my dying day”

“Too bad this is your last day then”

Inching closer to her face Gendry raises his eyebrows at her “Oh really? I bet you’re going to miss me after 10 minutes”

Arya feels the heat in her face as Gendry stares, “Wanna bet?” In their current position with Arya’s legs clutching Gendry’s hips and their noses nearly touching, she couldn’t muster the usual tone she uses whenever she and Gendry argues.

Gendry opens his mouth as if to reply when suddenly, voices of men, women and children surrounded them through speakers that they never even knew were there.

 

_“Who dares wander in The Hunted Dreadfort?_

_You seem just like the sort!_

_The one’s that are not a bore_

_Oh we bet, we bet you’re dying for the gore_

_Worry not! We’ve got everything you need_

_To rip you and kiss you and haunt you in your sleep”_

 

Arya and Gendry quickly stands up and looks around the room. The hair on Arya’s arms are standing as she picks Gendry’s hand and starts going back to the way they came from. The voices followed them everywhere they go as if stuck in an endless cycle, with the sounds of glasses breaking and screams of pleading for mercy accompanying it. Reaching the room they first came to, Arya catches a glimpse of the door they entered in. Deciding that she had enough of this place, she looks at Gendry only to find him ready for the moment when they’ll run. She gives him a slight nod and they rush with all their might towards the exit. As they watch their steps to dodge any mannequin with intestines for show, Arya hears a creak coming from the ceiling. Looking up as she dashes, they both come to a sudden halt and Arya shrieks as the chandelier swings towards their direction with a person impaled on one of its arms. One of its eyeballs is missing and a large part of its face’s skin is hanging off besides its mouth. Fixated with how real it all seems, Arya doesn’t even register what’s happening until Gendry crashes against her hips and sends them sideways away from the chandelier. Without wasting any second, they stand up and continue their dash across the vastness of the room. The relief that courses through Arya as she feels the roughness of the door as she pushes it and the warm afternoon wind that greets them almost makes her knees weak. Stumbling out, she gasps and breathes through her mouth and without fully realizing it, her ragged breaths turns into laughter as Gendry collapses beside her, laughing breathlessly too.

“That..” Arya says with a pause “..was definitely illegal. It looks like they actually murdered people to scare us with”

“And here I thought I’d die without ever hearing you shriek like your life depended on it” Gendry chuckles as he straightens his back and slings his arms around Arya.

“I hate you. You know that, right?” she looks up at him with a pout in her lips. They start walking down the steps of The Hunted Dreadfort. Arya wishes she wouldn’t have nightmares later when she goes to sleep.

He looks at her eyes and tightens his hold on her, “Don’t worry, m’lady. You never fail to remind me.” And with that, she punches his side and he breaks away from her for a second. “What type of a lady does that?”

“My kind.” And with that, Arya pushes him farther away from her, causing him to stumble slightly.

Gendry just laughs at her and tries to keep up with her pace. As he reaches her side, Gendry puts his arm on her shoulder again and this time, Arya doesn’t push him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it took me so long before I updated this story. I just really wanted to make this fic better and I hope I accomplished that lmao
> 
> Anyways, I just decided that this is going to be the second to the last chapter because I've already thought of how I'll end this and I hope you stick with me till the end of this fic. I love every single one of you for reading and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (btw, i might rewrite some things on chapters 1-3 just to make them better lol)
> 
> Thank you for everyone leaving kudos, comments and for the peeps who bookmarked this! You guys are the best and the reason why I continue writing this idea i got in my head


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